T’rumah(Offering) Exodus(Sh’mot) 25:1-27:19
1.This Torah portion is filled with G-d’s exact, detailed instructions on how to build the Mishkan. Why was it important to put all those details in scripture? Also when Noah built the ark specific instructions were again given. What is our spiritual message here?
Things scientists have discovered about the earth:
A.Had the force of gravity been slightly different the universe would either have expanded or imploded in such a way it would have been impossible for stars and planets to form.
B.Had nuclear efficiency been slightly lower the cosmos would consist only of hydrogen; no life would have emerged.
What does this mean?
It means G-d is a G-d of order. Details matter to Him. Precision matters. We as G-d’s representatives on earth are charged with creating order.
That means we take care in what we say, what we doandwhat we must restrain ourselves from doing.
There is as much precise order to our moral and spiritual life as there was to the building of the Tabernacle. Being holy is not a matter of acting as the spirit moves us. It is a choice of aligning ourselves to the Will of the One Who made the world.
The Torah records the precise dimensions of the Tabernacle and Noah’s Ark to teach us that the same applies to our human behavior.
We can’t slack off in our walk with G-d. We can’t say I had a bad day and did things I shouldn’t have done any more than the Israelites could tell G-d they substituted a few things to make the building of the Mishkan or Tabernacle easier.
2.In Exodus 26:33 we read about the veil that is also mentioned in Mark 15:38. What was the purpose of this veil? Why was the veil torn in Mark 15?
This veil separated the Holy of Holies from the holy place where the priests preformed their functions such as lighting the menorah and changing the show bread. It was the innermost area of the Tabernacle.
Mark 15:37-38 says, “With a loud cry, Yeshua breathed his last. 38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.”
What were you taught about why the veil was torn at Yeshua’s death?
Were you taught that the tearing of the veil meant that G-d was displeased with the people of Israel and was finished with the Temple? About forty years after Messiah’s death and resurrection the temple was destroyed by the Romans and has not been rebuilt. This is often looked to as proof of G-d’s displeasure with the Jewish people.
Here is another way to look at this.
Hebrews 10:19-20, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Yeshua, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body.”
As He breathed His last breath the veil was torn in two.
This shows us we have access to the throne of glory in the Heavenly Temple through Him.
The tearing of the veil dramatized what the death of Messiah accomplished for us.
We now have access to the Father through Yeshua’s suffering.
3.What was different in the way the Tabernacle was built and the way the Temple was built by King Solomon? Is there a spiritual lesson in the difference?
In I Kings 5:13-18 we read where King Solomon conscripted laborers to do the work of gathering materials and building the structure.
13 King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel—thirty thousand men. 14 He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. 15 Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, 16 as well as thirty-three hundred[a] foremen who supervised the project and directed the workers. 17 At the king’s command they removed from the quarry large blocks of high-grade stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. 18 The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and workers from Byblos cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.
Volunteers were not sought people were forced to work.
This is a glaring difference between the building of the Temple and Tabernacle. In our Torah portion this week G-d said, “bring me an offering.” The people willingly participated in building the Tabernacle. It was theirs. They owned it.
Not long after Solomon’s death the kingdom of Israel underwent a rebellion. The ten northern tribes chose Jeroboam as their king. The two remaining tribes chose Rehoboam as their king.
Before this split we read in I Kings 12:3-4 the following, “So they (the people) sent for Jeroboam and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him, your father put a heavy yoke on us but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”
Rehoboam’s advisor advised him to agree to the people’s request.
I Kings 12:7, “They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”
However he was influenced by his friends to ignore their advice. Rehoboam told the people he would increase their burden, not reduce it. The words, harsh labor, used in I Kings by Rehoboam appears also in Exodus 1:14 describing the enslavement of the Jews by Pharaoh.
After the death of Solomon the people used the words, heavy yoke, to describe what Solomon did to them in their conscription and hard work. (I Kings 12:3-4)
These same words are used in Exodus 6:6 to describe how Pharaoh treated them as slaves in Egypt. These along with other words used in I Kings brings up the comparison of King Solomon and Pharaoh in their treatment of the Israelites.
I Kings scripture is making the point that Israel was reliving their slavery in Egypt.
So even though Solomon was described as Israel’s wisest king he also brought back images of Egypt and slavery. This laid the ground work for the split of the tribes after Solomon’s death. A nation built on freedom had digressed back to slavery again.
This brings me to my whole point – faith coerced is not faith.
Worship forced is not worship.
The Tabernacle was founded on the voluntary contributions. Each person put their time and effort into building it and it changed them. No one did the work for them and no one commanded them to do it.
If we have family or friends who do not know G-d what can we do to bring them into the Kingdom?
We cannot force them. They cannot live off of our faith. We can live an authentic G-dly faith in front of them. We can be ready to discuss tough questions with them.
It is not our job to coerce our friend or child into faith (faith coerced is not faith)
We can share with them what our faith means to us. But each individual must make their own decision. They must build their own relationship with the Messiah.